Councils of colonial
ambassadors, agents-general, and so on, have, I think, definitely gone
the same way. These are chiefly Home views, for Home is at length
aroused as well as the colonies to their common question; and the
summons by the Secretary for the Colonies of the Colonial Conference
which sat in London two years ago marks alike the most prominent and
most promising feature in the movement.
Mr. Froude has given, most usefully, the views of the colonists. Let us
take Mr. Dalley's, which is also that of most others, namely, that the
nascent but increasing colonial navies should be all under one imperial
command--that is, be a part of the British navy. There is one more
step--namely, to dispose of all colonial military force in the same
common-sense way, and then we have a politically united empire. But we
are "constitutional" or representative in our polity, so that something
else is still wanted. In short, the unity of the empire requires two
things. First, that all its force be under one executive, and, next,
that the colonies be proportionately represented in that executive. The
Cabinet seems to me the adaptable body we can operate upon to this end.
That body would then be actually, as well as legally, the empire's
executive.
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